Looking for Advice on What to do now

Okay so I'm a brand new guitar player, I played piano for a few years but that was a while ago. I feel like I know most of the basics, although by no means do I have them mastered. I've went through the beginner section here and have seen plenty of other beginner tutorials on DVD and other websites. And I'm just kind of at a loss for what to do now.

First, my main goal and really only desire for playing guitar is simply be able to sit down with some friends and play a few popular songs. I have NO want to make my own riffs or really even perform, this is simply another hobby I would like to take up. That being said, the only thing I really want to do is learn some popular songs by classic rock bands. Not really any metal or anything like that, although I enjoy it. I would just like to sit down and play some Back in Black or Sweet home Alabama. That being said, I have a few other questions as well:

-Why would I need/want to learn scales? To my knowledge, the only need for this would be if I wanted to write my own riffs (explained above) or do some improv soloing, but as a beginner I don't plan on shredding solos any time soon. Sort of the same question for theory.
-Now, I'm not saying I think I'm going to simply start off by playing Back in Black or Sweet home Alabama, but I"m all about instant gratification, again, my main goal is to play songs, is there anywhere I can go where I can learn some simple songs, and gradually move up to more difficult and fun songs like those?
-In relation, can you recommend a few easy classic rock songs to start practicing?

Again, I'm just looking for some advice, I apologize for the long read but I would really just like to know a few things before I lose interest. Thanks very much for reading and hopefully answering some of my questions :)

Originally Posted by: KJmp32 I"m all about instant gratification

you're not gonna see a whole lot of that in music

if you want to play AC/DC, learn the pentatonic scale. when you go to learn how to play the solos, they'll make so much more sense.

Hello KJmp32,

I think you can approach this from two ways. Either you put in some time to learn common chords and then look at some songs you like or you make a list of songs you wanna play and make a list of the chords they use.

Don't forget that a lot of the exercises you'll see on GT are there to help you gain dexterity and strength. Sure they may look boring at first since you're looking to play songs ASAP but they do serve a important purpose.

My suggestion would be to look at our Absolute Beginner's guide . It has a lot of the basic knowledge you'll need to play those songs.

Learning guitar doesn't happen overnight and altho you might not want to learn advanced theory, the basics will help you along the way.

I agree with Benoit ...

As an absolute beginner you should start by learning all the basic, major chords, concentrating on your finger positions and memorizing what the chords look like. After you have done this you can start exercising moving smoothly from one chord to another, starting off with simple patterns (like D, A, E) or whatever. When you have mastered this somewhat, I would suggest listening and trying to mimic different rhythms and strumming techniques, but having someone actually SHOW this to you is still best by far. I feel that this would be the best place to start off with, it will improve your skills greatly and it would keep you busy for about 3 - 4 months ;)

As for scales, back in black and sweet home alabama - scales, modes and soloing techniques are definately not where you as a beginner should start, nor are the songs. REM's "everybody hurts" is a great, simple song with a simple picking rhythm for instance. Or rather pick any popular song with a basic major chord rhythm. You'll be surprized how stupidly basic 90% of these songs are.

I would say learn how to read tab, learn power chords, and just mess around with alternate picking and string bending. Since most music is based upon major and minor pentatonics I would learn those as well, all you nedd to know is a few shapes and ascend and descend to get the blood going. Then start learning some Nirvana like "come as you are" "smells like teen spirit" "Lithium", "December" by collective soul or go to Iron Man, Smoke on the water, Paranoid. Most classic rock is made up of a combination of chords and riffs within the same measure so I think these songs and ideas are simple enough and get you started with that. but it won't be easy people became superstars on these songs for a reason. But if you just want to learn the tunes well enough to sing along get a "Fake Book" and just strum along with them to your stereo

Originally Posted by: KJmp32
First, my main goal and really only desire for playing guitar is simply be able to sit down with some friends and play a few popular songs.

Hey KJ,
As others suggested try learning a few basic chords and find songs you can use to practice them. I can't offer much in the way of suggestions but it's important to work with songs you like so it will be fun...look up chords for a bunch of songs you like online and pick out ones that only have 2 or 3 chords, or getting an easy fake book is a great idea.

Hardest parts at first will be getting the finger strength & placement to get a clean sound, and making chord changes -- just take it slow and concentrate on playing thru the song to a steady beat even if it sounds awful at first....just keep playing over & over with the focus being on staying within the beat...slowly but surely your fingers will get stronger & faster at finding the right frets...and when you're there you'll have a good strong sense of rhythm which will allow you pick up songs faster and is what you'll need to play along with people.

Good luck & have fun!